Sensing the Future: MEMS based sensors for Intelligent Robotics

10:00 am - 10:25 am

MEMS sensors are a key enabler for today’s systems and will play even a stronger role in the next generations especially of intelligent systems. Already widely used in smartphones, hearables, wearables and other consumer devices, they are more and more moving into emerging application areas such as AR/VR and robotics, with humanoid robots representing a particularly demanding and promising field in future. This presentation will highlight how smarter, more highly integrated MEMS sensor solutions can support robotic perception, motion control and interaction with the environment. Key use cases include body movement detection, leg, knee and finger motion tracking, pressure-sensor based touch sensing, magnetic position detection. The talk will connect these use-cases to relevant sensor technologies such as ASICap (ASIC as a cap) in accelerometers, TMR-based magnetic sensors, highly accurate pressure sensors and smart sensor systems with microcontrollers incl. embedded sensors and even embedded AI capabilities. The presentation will discuss the main performance indicators for sensors in robotics, including higher integration, increased intelligence, low power consumption, robustness and accuracy.

Key Technologies Covered

ASICap (ASIC as “cap” for a MEMS sensor) as base technology for inertial sensors
TMR as future magnetic sensor technology for various applications including robotics
Highly Accurate pressure sensors for CE-applications, especially touch-sensing in robotic applications
Smart sensors (sensors including microcontroller and embedded SW, even embedded AI)
Multi-Sensor-Systems including on-sensor and cross-sensor fusion

Featured Speakers

Dr. Ralf Schellin

Vice President Head of Product Area MEMS, Bosch Sensortec

Dr. Ralf Schellin is based in Reutlingen, Germany, where he is Vice President Head of the Product Area MEMS of Bosch Sensortec since 2018. Prior to this, he was Director of Product Management of Bosch Sensortec starting 2015.

From 2010 to 2014 he was leading a big cross divisional project at Bosch on Tiny Wireless Sensors for the Internet of Things. From 2007 to 2009 he was leading an engineering group at Bosch Sensortec dealing with accelerometers, magnetic sensors, pressure sensors as well as system- and software topics.

Between 2001 and 2006 he held various positions in engineering and product management at Siemens in Munich, Germany, in the area of mobile devices based on IP technologies (product brand “Gigaset”). Between 1996 and 2000 he was leading various projects in the automotive area of Bosch in Reutlingen working on safety relevant MEMS based sensors. At that time, he was part of the team building up the business around the well-known Surface-Micromachining Technology for various automotive applications (e.g. accelerometers for front- and side-airbag systems, gyroscopes for over-roll sensing).

Prior to Bosch he was holding a post-doc position in biosensors at University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands. Ralf Schellin received his PhD degree in Electrical Engineering (1-chip silicon microphones) and his master degree in Technical Physics (thesis: development of a complementary bipolar-process with poly-silicon emitters) at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany.